Madame LaLaurie, Pure Southern Fried Evil

The South has a lot of scary stories, but I feel none are as horrifying as the crimes committed by Madam Delphine LaLaurie in New Orleans.

At Musee Conti in New Orleans, LA

LaLaurie was a rich socialite who lived in the French Quarter of New Orleans with her husband.  Rumors begin to swirl about LaLaurie's treatment of her slaves.  There are records of officials visiting her mansion to investigate these concerns, because apparently there was such thing as Slave Protective Services.  These investigators found nothing of concern, but apparently they forgot to look in the attic.

One day a fire broke out in the LaLaurie mansion.  When the house was being evacuated the public found the LaLaurie's deep dark secret.  The attic of the mansion had been turned into a torture chamber where slaves were chained up in depraved conditions.  It turned out that the fire was actually started by a slave.  A slave woman had been chained to the stove in the kitchen and had set the house on fire in an attempt to kill herself.  The LaLauries tried to convince the public that there was nothing to see, but the secret was out.   Madam LaLaurie quickly vanished and was belived to have fled to France.

The actual condition of LaLaurie's slaves is different depending on who you you ask.  There is no argument that LaLaurie tortured and beat her slaves, but some accounts go as far as saying that there was such extreme torture as peeling skin of of slaves faces and stirring their brains through a hole she made in their heads.  There are even some who claim LaLaurie was doing horrifying medical experiments on the slaves and trying to alter the slaves into half animal abominations.

The fire did not destroy the LaLaurie mansion, as it still stands in New Orleans to this day, but now it belongs to another notorious New Orleans villian:  Nicholas Cage.

I have mentioned this before, but it bears repeating:  People in New Orleans HATE Nicholas Gage.  Possibly his habit of buying up historical property or the fact that he built a huge pyramid for himself to be buried in in the cities oldest graveyard.

Slavery is the darkest part of Southern History and it doesn't get much darker then what LaLaurie did.  She is histories most wicked Southern Belle.

For more Southern creepiness, head on down to Key West.

The Carpetbagger

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